Red Doctor
by LadyVibeke87
Summary: Tumblr prompt: Imagine your OTP getting into a heated argument and person A accidentally confesses their love for person B out of frustration. [Frankenwolf] [guest starring: a crazy fangirl]


Emptiness was a cold feeling.

It took his heart in the most unexpected moments, like a disease, and sucked life out of him until he felt emotionally dead.

Like now.

_One_.

The chitchatter typical of pubs was droning around him, basically unnoticed. As far as it concerned him, he might as well be sitting on a chair of thorns in hell, it still wouldn't have made the slightest difference.

Hell couldn't be that bad, after all he'd seen in his miserable life.

With a sigh, he pushed aside the empty glass and gestured to the bartender for another one.

_Two_.

There was a pretty blonde eyeing him from the other end of the counter. He'd seen her before. She'd had an eye on him for a while, now. Had it been the old him, he would have addressed her a sly smirk and lurked her to himself in less than ten seconds, but as of now all he truly wanted was getting wasted and mope into the hangover until his next emptiness attack.

He drained the freshly served whiskey in one single gulp. He squeezed his eyes as the strong, cheap taste of the alcohol burned down his throat. He liked it, though. He liked its warmth. It was almost sweet.

He'd swallowed tears that had tasted worse than that.

Glass down. Another discreet nod at the tender.

_Three_.

Another shot.

Leaving the bottle would have made more sense.

Leaving the pub would have made even more sense, especially because, at this pace, he would soon be thrown out anyway. The alcohol was easily going through his empty stomach and straight to his head. The dizziness was already blurring his sight, muffling the sounds.

"Hey, pretty face."

He turned to meet a pair of heavily lined blue eyes.

He groaned low in his throat. He wasn't lucid enough to handle a flirtatious conversation.

"Why is such a handsome man like you spending his night all alone like this?" the girl asked, taking a sit beside him, uninvited. "Are you expecting company?"

He wasn't sure what to reply.

A huge part of him was begging for a diversion, for any reason to disconnect his mind and float in blissful carelessness, and indulging this undeniably attractive stranger would positively lead him to some pleasurable distraction. Still, that small yet ever present part of him that had a connection with his deepest self kept screaming for a safe solitude.

"I'm not expecting anyone," he replied, and nearly laughed at the thought of someone coming for him.

No one would spend a night with him when he was sober, let alone when he was drunk.

The girl smiled provocatively, leaning in towards him with a Cosmopolitan in her hand. She basically shoved her remarkable cleavage under his nose, which made her intentions very clear.

"Good," she purred, and asked another whiskey from him.

_Four_.

Victor didn't really know how he wanted things to go. All he wanted was to stop thinking, at least for an hour or two.

So he accepted the umpteenth drink.

_And counting._

**x**

_How gross_, she thought, eyeing the blonde's seductive movements around the lonely man at the counter.

Ruby couldn't see who she was, nor who he was, because the place was too crowded, but the pair surely didn't look like a good match, even from afar. The guy was slumped into his stool like an empty bag, barely paying attention to his surrounding, and she was hitting on him so blatantly and persistently that it wasn't even worth to bet on her.

Ruby stifled a giggle. Werewolves weren't the most famished predators, after all, and that poor thing at the counter was going to become a prey very soon. She wondered if it could be considered rape if it was a woman dragging a drunken man into the backseat of her car to take advantage of him.

She pulled out her cellphone to check the time and found a text from Emma saying Henry was sick and their girls night had to be cancelled.

Ruby was about to pout and text back some kind reply for Henry to get better soon, but she stopped dead in her tracks at 'I'm sorr-'.

Because the poor thing the procacious blonde was harassing at the counter was none other than Whale.

As in Doctor Whale.

_Her_ Whale.

_Not technically mine_, she corrected herself at once. _Mine as in 'the one I know'_.

Not that there were many Dr. Whales in Storybrooke, for the matter.

She felt like a needle had just started stinging in her side. And it was pretty annoying and painful, for her tastes.

She told herself it must have been the disappointment for the cancellation of girls night. It had nothing to do with Victor being hit on by a sexy blondie.

She had no right to meddle. He was free to flirt and go with whoever he wanted. It was none of Ruby's business. It was none of her business if he wanted a one night stand with a random girl he'd met in a bar.

In her heart, though, Ruby knew he was better than that. Better than the shallow womanizer everybody thought he was. She'd seen it, the _other_ him. The true him. She'd seen his true colours and knew there was more to him.

More than he himself thought.

There was a number of empty glasses in front of him, and only one in the girl's hand. She could smell the alcoholic stench from across the pub. It was an all too familiar smell.

The blonde's hands were all over Victor's shoulders as she stood behind him, whispering endearingly in his ear.

_He must be so drunk he can't even get what she's saying_, Ruby thought with a disapproving grimace.

She didn't judge Victor. She could see why he would seek for forgetfulness in whiskey, although she couldn't honest say she would justify him. She just happened to know what it meant to be living with an inner darkness you couldn't get rid of. That was why she preferred Victor to James: Victor Frankenstein was all of him, from the very beginning; James Whale was only a small part of him.

She also just happened to know that a one night stand wouldn't fix anything, nor make the pain go away.

But a friend maybe could at least ease it.

So she made up her mind.

Several worshipping looks followed her on her way to the counter. She ignored them and the appreciative whispers rising everywhere. She walked straight to her aim.

"Excuse me."

She grabbed the bold blondie by a shoulder and spun her around. The girl wasn't particularly happy about it; she studied Ruby head to toe, sneering at her rather simple red dress and black combats.

"Get lost, sweetheart. I saw him first."

Ruby smiled sarcastically and pushed her aside without the slightest consideration.

"What the – ?"

"Hey, Doc," Ruby tugged gently at Victor's arm. "You don't look too good, here, you know?"

It was true. His eyes were encircled by bluish shadows and heavy-lidded and he didn't seem to be able to keep his head up in a steady balance.

"Roo… bee?" he mumbled, turning towards her with a foggy look.

Ruby faced away at once.

"Gosh, your breath smells terrible," she complained, but couldn't help a small, tender smile. "Looks like we keep on meeting in awkward moments."

"You bet, honey," the blonde girl cut in. "We were just about to – "

"Who the hell are you, by the way?" Victor groaned, staring at her blankly. Suddenly there was a sparkle of awareness and a horrified expression spread over his face. "Oh my, I was going to give in to a hooker."

"I'm not a hooker!" the blonde barked, blushing furiously. "I just wanted to have sex with you, dammit!"

"Sorry, not interested," Victor muttered, waving a hand at her dismissively.

The blonde looked like she was about to burst, her cheeks a very bright pink. Ruby didn't wait for her to explode: she grabbed Victor and dragged him away quickly, heading for the restrooms.

He followed her without a protest, and she assumed he was simply too drunk to realize what was going on.

"I really don't know what is wrong with you," she scolded him as she had him sit next to the sink. "Why do you keep doing this to yourself? Your head is going to kill you in the morning." She ran the cold water and sprinkled some onto his face, making him moan in discomfort.

"I know," he said, his voice groggy. "That's why I do it."

This comment made Ruby pinch him on the nose.

"Ouch!" he yelped. "What was that for?"

Ruby splashed another handful of cold water on his face.

"For you being a jerk!" she snapped, then took a paper towel and handed it to him. "Feeling any better?" she asked, more sweetly.

He rubbed his face into the rough towel for a while, then shook his head, as if trying to focus.

"Not much, to be honest." He balled up the towel and threw it into the bin, then froze. He stayed still for one moment, then his eyes darted to Ruby and he frowned suspiciously. "Ruby?"

Ruby arched her brows and crossed her arms.

"That's my name," she said, a bit perplexed.

Victor kept staring at her like she had popped out of thin air.

"What?"

"Ruby, what are you doing here?"

"I was supposed to have a girls night with Emma, but she cancelled as soon as I walked in here, so…"

"Where's whatshername?" he inquired, looking around, but they were in the girls restroom and there wasn't much to see.

"You mean the blonde vixen who was trying to get into your pants?"

"She was, wasn't she?" he replied dryly. "She wanted me! Why did you meddle?" He sounded so angry, all of a sudden, she was actually offended.

"I'm sorry for thinking it would have been unhealthy for you to spend the night with a random girl who doesn't give a damn about you!"

"What do you care about whom I spend the night with?" he retorted, standing up. "All I needed was _not_ to think for a few hours! Is it too much to ask?"

Ruby was utterly shocked. Was he _mad_ at her for saving him?

"_Not_ thinking usually lead to very bad consequences, you know? You're drunk! Anything could have happened to you! Any sort of thing!"

There was no need to specify, but in Ruby's head each of those things was way too clear. The mere thought of that girl kissing him drove her crazy.

Why did he have to seek for comfort in such pathetic, disgusting ways?

Hadn't she proved to be good enough to be a confident for him?

Didn't he prefer a relieving chat with a friend who could truly sympathize?

Wouldn't he rather have _her_?

"Whatever could or couldn't have happened with that blonde was my concern, not yours!" he yelled. "I needed…"

He trailed off ad snorted, turning his back to her to smash a fist against the wall.

"You needed what? A good fuck?" she cried back. "You think you can fix your problems with alcohol and casual sex with strangers? How responsible of you!"

He spun back to face her, so closely she could count every pulsing vein in his neck.

"You have no right to judge me!"

"I am not judging you, for fuck's sake! I was trying to grant you a safe way out of what I assumed was a bad night!"

Victor ran his hands though his hair almost in despair.

"It _was_ a bad night! But now you're here and it's become even worse!"

"That's a nice thing to say to someone who was only worried for you!"

"Oh, sure, as if!"

Ruby couldn't believe her ears. Was she really arguing with Dr. Whale in a public restroom?

"You know what? Next time I'll just leave you alone with your demons instead of offering you a helping hand! I don't even know why I tried in first place!"

"Exactly!" he shouted back. "You shouldn't have come to me in first place! You shouldn't have saved me, that damn night! It would have been better for everyone!"

"Oh, don't you even go there!" she hissed, and now she was seriously angry. "You can lie to yourself as much as you want, but don't you dare lie to me! It would have been _easier_ for you, and for me, too, given the current situation!"

"And what difference would it have made for you?" he scoffed.

Ruby felt her face burn. This man was insufferable.

"It would have made _all_ the difference! You have no idea! You don't know anything about me!"

"Then leave me alone and let me have sex with every damn stupid girl I want!"

Ruby could distinctly sense a little crack open in her heart.

"I wish I could!" she cried, her voice now so high, even despite the loud music, she was sure someone was about to burst in or call the police. "But I can't, because, fuck you, I care too much!"

"Then stop caring!"

"I can't!"

"Why on earth not?!"

"_Because I'm in love with you, you dumb bastard!_"

And then, everything was silence.

Even the music seemed to vanish, leaving the two of them alone in an empty room to share the most awkward moment ever.

Ruby closed her eyes and cursed herself inwardly.

_I did not just say that_, she prayed.

Or did she?

When had it happen that she had fallen in love with Dr. Whale and why the heck didn't she know?

Her mind automatically raced back to a very precise moment. She recalled him, sitting beside her on the dock. His lost, hopeless look. The moment she'd realized how broken he truly was inside.

How similar they were, despite the superficial differences.

Victor looked paralyzed. He was staring at her like she had just slapped him.

In that very moment, one of the toilet doors opened and an embarrassed-looking brunette sidled out of it and ran straight to the exit.

"For the record, that was just epic, guys," she told them one moment before disappearing beyond the door.

Ruby and Victor gaped at each other, not knowing what to say.

"Oh, and by the way," the brunette's head popped in quickly. She pointed a finger at Victor. "You are really cute," she said. "But if you don't fall at her feet right now, I'll get back and take her for myself." And finally she left again, and the uneasy silence fell back.

Victor cleared his throat in discomfort and dug his hand into his pockets, eye on the floor.

"That was… er…"

"Yes," Ruby agreed, not daring to look at him. "It was."

She'd messed up before she could even begin anything with him. She had scared him away, for sure.

Victor cleared his throat again and propped himself back onto the sink.

"Is uh… is there any chance you did mean what you said moments ago?"

Unfortunately for her, she never said anything she didn't mean. It was part of her.

"I swear it wasn't out of jealousy that I took you away from that girl," she muttered apologetically. "I thought that she was just taking advantage of you momentary weakness, that you deserved better than that…"

"And _you_ would be _better than that_?"

She scowled, sincerely hurt by his insinuating tone.

"Anything would be better than that! But I care for you, and even though it may mean nothing to you, it's still more valuable than whatever whatshername had to offer you!"

Much to her surprise, he smiled. Openly. Warmly. _Heartily_.

"Do you know the story of the fox and the grapes?" he asked quietly.

Ruby nodded slowly, unable to catch the point.

Victor shrugged.

"I'm the fox. I had this insane, hopeless longing for something I would never get, and so I just ran away from it and pretended I didn't need it, that it wasn't something for me."

"Like the fox did with the grapes, claiming they were too green?"

"Yes, something like that. And then one day you broke into my life, and changed everything."

Ruby nibbled at her lower lip, eyeing him unsurely.

"Are you saying I am the grapes to your fox?"

Victor laughed softly and shook his head.

"Oh, no. Not at all. You're not the grapes. You're the sun. You're the sun that turned my grapes from green to ripe. You awakened something I had been trying to forget since forever: my hunger for love."

He walked to her and watched her intently, his eyes now so vigilant and fully aware that she felt naked.

Her legs felt like jelly. More precisely, she felt like she was the drunken one.

He made her feel like that.

"You're my alcohol of choice, Ruby," he whispered, close enough to her to count every single, beautiful freckle on her nose. "I'd get drunk of you, if I could drink you. But so glad I can't, so I can't waste you away like I do with actual alcohol."

He cupped her face with one hand and stroked her cheek with his thumb as his other hand went to rest on her hip.

She couldn't feel her heartbeat anymore. Maybe it was beating too fast. Maybe it wasn't beating at all.

"But you're still the one making me dizzy, confusing my thoughts and tearing down my walls. You are what I'm really addicted to, ever since I can remember."

Ruby didn't know how to feel.

Happy, because he'd spoken the words she'd dreamed to hear from him?

Scared, because she knew both she and him had major issues to deal with?

Relieved, because she had finally blurted it out after trying so hard to keep it even from herself?

"Ruby? Did you hear a word of what I said?"

Victor's voice jolted her back into reality, and she realized she hadn't heard anything at all.

"I… uh…"

His eyes were blue and amazing, and so concentrated on her that she couldn't help feeling important.

"I was just suggesting we should put off this whole conversation to later. You know, when I'm clean and sober and we're not in a ladies restroom."

Ruby had completely forgotten about where they were.

"How about Granny's for breakfast? Or lunch, perhaps… You should rest. You're going to have a bad hang over in the morning."

"No fucking way!" squealed a muffled voice from behind the door. "You're going to kiss the hottie, Mr. Handsome, and you'd better do it _now_!"

Ruby was speechless at that unexpected intrusion. Victor, however, looked very amused.

"Looks like we have a fangirl," he chuckled in Ruby's ear.

The door cracked open and a portion of the girl's face became visible in the narrow gap.

"Just do it, Pretty Face!" she yelled at Victor.

"I've been drinking. My breath is not kiss-worthy!" he yelled back.

"Oh, for fuck's sake!"

The door slammed open and the girl appeared in her whole form. Before Ruby or Victor could even realize it, she pulled a tiny box out of her purse and threw it at him.

"Breath strips?" he laughed as he caught it. "Really?" He glanced at Ruby tentatively.

"Yes, really! Now take them all and kiss the hottie, already!"

The girl was a little too involved, for a mere stranger.

"I'll gladly accept one," Victor told the girl, placing one of the strips onto his tongue and tossing the rest back to her. "But I'm sorry to inform you that there's not going to be any kissing. Not tonight," he added, meeting Ruby's bewildered look.

He grabbed her chin between his fingers and smiled goofily.

"I don't want our first kiss to happen in a cheap place like a pub restroom and, more importantly, I want to remember everything of it, and as of now I'm sure I won't even remember my name, tomorrow, so…"

Touched, Ruby made to speak, but a loud squeal from their excited audience cut her off.

"Sorry," the girl apologized, cringing coyly in her shoulders. "It's just that you two make such a perfect couple… I ship you so much!"

Ruby was a bit confused.

"You… _ship_ us?"

"To where?" Victor asked quizzically.

The girl laughed, her hands crossed over her heart.

"Oh, you guys are so adorable!"

She sounded so genuinely hyper that, despite her nonsense speech, Ruby and Victor simply had to grin.

"Alright, no kissing, tonight," the girl agreed then, as if it was up to her to have the final world about the matter. "But promise you'll come back some other night and perform a proper kiss for me! Please?"

"I'm actually a bit scared," Victor muttered under his breath. "There's that insane, greedy sparkle in her eyes…"

Ruby buried her face into his arm to suffocate a giggle.

"We promise!" she reassured the girl.

"Cross our hearts!" Victor added, and Ruby could see he was barely keeping a straight face. It could have been the whiskey, it could have been what had just happened. Whatever. He was smiling, now, when mere minutes ago he had looked so dark and dejected.

The brunette nodded vigorously and made to leave, but suddenly seemed to have a second thought.

"What are your names, by the way?"

"Excuse me?"

"Your names. Please? I need to name you."

Neither Ruby nor Victor knew what she meant by that, but indulging her appeared to be the safest thing to do.

"I'm James, and this is Ruby."

Still lingering on the doorway, the girl made a wistful face.

"Rames… Jaby…" she mused, then shook her head disappointedly. "Nope, doesn't work. Do you have nicknames?"

The couple looked at each other. Victor shrugged.

"People normally just call me Doctor. And she…" His look roamed all over Ruby. Her trademark colour was always there, somehow. "She's Red, I guess."

Ruby beamed at him.

The girl, too, beamed happily.

"Nailed it! I'll call you Red Doctor!" she mewled, and this said she left, slamming the door behind her back, leaving _Red Doctor_ to stare at her empty spot in utter disbelief.

"Have we really just been paired up by a random crazy girl who… _ships_ us?" said Victor, astonished.

"So it seems." Ruby was seriously perplexed, but also quite amused by the general insanity of the situation. "Whatever that means."

Victor glanced down at her with a mischievous expression painted on his face.

"I think I ship us, too."

Ruby could barely believe this was actually happening. What she had thought was going to be a ruined night had just turned into the most weirdly beautiful night ever.

"So it's for real? You really are interested in _me_?"

"The question is: how could I _not_ be interested in you?" he replied matter-of-factly. "I find it so amazing that a beautiful person like you has even acknowledged my existence… it's going to take me a while to accept that you _like_ me… and it will still sound crazy. And let's not even talk about you being _in love_ with me!" He laughed quite nervously. She thought he was adorable. "You must be really insane, Red."

The intensity in his gaze into her eyes took her breath away.

She couldn't remember anyone ever looking at her like that. Like she was more than important. Like she was the whole world.

"I guess we both are, Doctor," she said, and rose on her tiptoes to brush a quick kiss on the corner of his lips.

Victor blissfully nuzzled his face into her hair.

"Our fangirl will kill us if she finds out."

"This will be our little secret, then," Ruby quipped. He staggered a little and she enveloped an arm around his wait to support him. "I guess I'd better drive you home and get you into bed."

She realized the ambiguity of her word only when he chuckled at them.

"How evil of you to take advantage of a poor, drunken guy who's so smitten with you."

She rolled her eyes and pulled him towards the door, not leaving her grip on him.

Ruby's heart felt light and warm. Hilarious as it all had been, she knew she would always think back to it as a cherished memory. She would have never dared to hope in such a fortunate twist in her life. Not so soon, at least.

Not when it was about something that was so important to her.

_Thanks, Henry, for getting sick so promptly_.

"Smitten, uh?" Ruby purred as they walked out of the pub.

Victor nodded gravely.

"Totally."

_So, Red Doctor_, she mused dreamingly. _Yes,_ _I definitely ship it_.

**x**

**mylifeinatumblr**

**Once a shipper, always a shipper**

OMG you guize are never going to believe it but my shipper heart found a real life OTP! I was in this club last night and there were this cute guy and this extremely hot girl having a fight in the restroom and then all of a sudden she yelled onto his face that she was in love with him and he was like "Excuse you?" and my feels were literally killing me because they were so perfect for each other! I couldn't help but meddle and tell them they should totally kiss, but the cute guy was a bit drunk and said it wouldn't be very romantic to share their first kiss in such a cheap scenario, so I had them promise they'd come back and kiss properly for me. I know, I'm crazy.

Btw, he's a doctor and she was wearing this incredible red dress (OMG her body I can't even), so I named them Red Doctor. They seemed to like it, even though I'm positive they think I'm totally crazy. Which I am but whatever. Idek, they were sooo cute!

So, yeah, I now ship a real life OTP called Red Doctor.

Sue me.

_352 notes_

_Reblog_

_Follow_

* * *

**A/N**: I said I would do it, so here it is. This was totally crack and random, but the story has basically written itself, so I won't take any responsibility for it. The crazy shipper girl is nameless so that any of us Frankenwolfers can identify in her. 'cause we do, let's be honest.

Reviews are love, even if you have to point out some mistakes (which I'm sure I've made, especially stupid typos), so I'll be very thankful to anyone who's going to leave one.


End file.
